Hapoel Kiryat Shalom F.C.
| Full name |
Hapoel Kiryat Shalom Football Club מועדון כדורגל הפועל קרית שלום |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1957 |
| Ground | Kiryat Shalom, Tel Aviv |
| Manager | Yaron Cohen Tzemach |
| League | Liga Gimel Tel Aviv |
| 2015–16 | 3rd |
Hapoel Kiryat Shalom F.C. (Hebrew: הפועל קרית שלום) is an Israeli football club based in the Kiryat Shalom neighborhood of Tel Aviv. The club is notable for being the first interactive fan-managed sports team, as almost all playing-related decisions (such as squad selection, substitutions etc.) were taken through votes on the Web2Sport website.
The club was established in 1957 and played most of its seasons in the lower divisions, except for eight seasons in the 1960s and the early 1970s in which the club played in third tier Liga Bet. In summer 1961, the club merged with fellow Liga Bet club, Hapoel HaDarom Tel Aviv, and played for a few seasons as Hapoel HaDarom/Kiryat Shalom, finally reverting back to its old name in 1965, when the club dropped back to Liga Gimel.
In summer 1969, the club merged with another Tel Aviv club, David Tel Aviv, which played in Liga Bet in order to take its place in the higher division. The club played for one season as Hapoel David Kiryat Shalom, and reverted to its name at the end of it, playing two further seasons in Liga Bet before dropping back to Liga Gimel. The club had another period in Liga Bet, which became fourth tier in 1976, between 1979–80 and 1981–82, but dropped back to Liga Gimel.
Web2sport was a web-based company founded by Moshe Hogeg, Shimon Dor, Roy Dvora and Adam Weissberger. Hogeg claimed he was inspired to do after watching Argentina striker Lionel Messi dropped for the game against Germany in the 2006 World Cup. The company purchased Hapoel Kiryat Shalom for €350,000 in June 2007.
Having previously had an average attendance of around 100, the club's first game under the new system was watched online by 6,000 people. However, the first result was a 3–2 loss to Maccabi Ironi Or Yehuda. The club finished fourth in this season, but due to the collapse of the hi-tech market, the company was closed in 2008.
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